Guanyu Zhou hopes for a contract with Cadillac?

Guanyu Zhou will start the Qatar Grand Prix from twelfth position, his best performance in a long time. The Chinese driver himself confirmed yesterday that his qualifying in Losail was the best of the season.

On the one hand, both Sauber drivers were helped by the recently presented technical innovations, in particular the modernized underbody of the C44, as Valtteri Bottas also qualified for the second part of qualifying, recording the 13th fastest time.

On the other hand, it is possible that Zhou also has extra motivation to excel at the end of the season, as interesting perspectives could open up for him.

According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, he hopes to get a place in the future Cadillac factory team, which will most likely initially use Ferrari power plants, i.e. from 2026. And this hope is not unfounded: the position of head of this team is tipped to Graham Loudon, who once headed Marussia F1.

Naturally, this appointment has not yet been officially confirmed, but Loudon is already actively participating in the new project of the General Motors group as an executive advisor.

There’s also a very real marketing component to such a scenario, and not just because Zhou has generous sponsors. The fact is that most Cadillac cars are not even sold in the US, but in China. At the end of 2023, 183,600 cars of this brand of various models were sold there – this is 36,386 units more than in the same period on the American market.

In order to conquer the Chinese market, the GM group once built a modern factory in this country and all Cadillac models sold in the Middle Kingdom are produced there.

Only time will tell how events will develop, but there is at least reason to believe that this combination of factors could help Guanyu Zhou return to Formula 1 after missing one season, during which he will serve as a reserve driver for Ferrari – there has been talk about this for several years now